Alabama is No. 1 in USA Today preseason college football poll

In one of the least shocking announcements of summer, two-time defending national champion Alabama has opened at No. 1 in USA Today’s preseason college football poll.

UCLA, coming off a 9-5 season, is No. 21 and USC, 7-6 last year, is No. 24.

Alabama is followed in the USA Today coaches’ poll by Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford and Georgia. Rounding out the top 10 is Texas A&M, South Carolina, Clemson, Louisville and Florida.

The Southeastern Conference, which has won the last seven BCS titles, has five schools in the top 10.

Alabama, which picked up 58 of the possible 62 first-place votes, has never won a national title when it debuted at No. 1 in the coaches’ poll.

The Pac-12 has five schools in the top 25: Oregon (3), Stanford (4), UCLA (21), USC (24) and Oregon State (25).

Notre Dame, which lost to Alabama in last year’s BCS title game, is No. 11

This is the last season the USA Today coaches’ poll will help choose the participants in the championship game. Next season, a selection committee will pick the top four teams for the new playoff.

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